Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2017 i Scootering

The very nice chaps at Readspeed have been busy in their workshops, using the old grey matter to bring clever new products to market. Below is just a taster of a handful of the items, which we will also be putting to the test in the Scootering workshop to see what we make of them ourselves… keep an eye out for that in coming editions. These bits aside, there are rumours of some rather exciting cylinder kits and performance packages for both the Scomadi and the new Lambretta V-Special… but we can’t say too much on those bits just now; all will be revealed in due course! In the meantime, here are the latest items out of the stable. For more info visit: www.readspeedscooters.com or 01299 828037 HERMES: 4-STAGE CDI…

Yorkshiremen aren’t known for holding back an opinion but Gatch’s opening remarks even took me by surprise: “There are a lot of people out there that don’t like my work and I’m fine with that,” he began. “There are some great artists out there at the moment but photo-realism’s got to such a point that it’s hard to tell who’s painted it without looking for a signature. You can dislike one of my works from across a car park!” Gatch Rivet, which is possibly not his real name, has a style rooted in street art. He’s self-trained, a scooterist and huge fun to talk with. “Each to their own, but personally I think that if someone’s got £15k tied up in a scooter that looks like a pikey’s caravan and…

Taking the V-Special to Eurolambretta was a bold move but Walter explained it’s something they wanted to do: “This is the home of true Lambretta enthusiasts. We wanted to assure them that the brand is in the hands of people who respect its heritage.” Although there wasn’t a resounding vote of approval I was surprised at how well the machine was received. Jim and Mick perfectly summed up the two conflicting points of view. Against: Jim Rose, Flying 8 Balls SC. “I don’t like it but I’d pretty much decided that before I arrived. I’m opposed in principle to any use of the Lambretta name by businesses selling products made in the Far East. That includes clothes, watches and this new effort. The Innocenti era was something special, a point in…

Martin Murray was the first person to order an RB ‘S TYPE’ from AF Rayspeed. It was finished off in gold and purple metal flake and arrived just in time to make its debut at the Isle of Wight scooter rally in 2007. Martin who was no stranger to owning tuned Lambrettas was impressed by the kit’s initial performance. Though he had similar power from other Lambretta engines he noted that they needed significant work to get the same type of performance. He also found that it was very tractable at low revs making it ideal to drive around town but also ideal for fast motorway use and good for overtaking when above 70mph. Martin did have a few niggles with the set up but once sorted has found the engine…

I don’t do fashion – I do ‘product’ How did a lad who started working in a newspaper printing house end up founding not one but three fashion brands? I founded Josef Jeans, Joe & Co Premium Denim and Northern Couture but I started my working life in the Daily Express newspaper building as a runner, just in the era as Thatcher got in, everything was changing. I worked in the paper, it was the time of the ‘closed shop’ unions. And when I got to 18 I had to ‘move on’. I ended up working in a fashion outlet called Stolen From Ivor – people of my age will remember their black and yellow placcy bags. Funny to mention it, but I started work there with Johnny Marr (guitarist…

TESTING REGIME RECAP With so many kits on the market, in such a variety of cubic capacities (typically 175cc-230cc) and with a host of cranks which implement the ability to move port specifications about, and many ported/ tuned engines out there, we had to decide what to choose as a donor machine for testing on. In an ideal world we would test every pipe on every kit, at all different crank/carb/porting levels… but in reality that is simply not possible. Luckily, local scooterist Rob Shaw had his latest build to offer, that was just run in and available for the job in hand, so he fetched it along and mucked in with the testing. It’s a cast GT186 kit that’s built onto a 60mm stroke crank making it 193cc, it’s…

Lambretta, Vespa, spares, accessories and a vast range of automatics. Looking for a scooter? Then look no further! Sell your scooter and spares on the internet today at: WWW.SCOOTERTRADER.COM APRILA C50 only 12 months old, like new, only 2500km, excellent condition, £1200 Tel. 07818 567742. HEINKEL TOURIST 103A2, 1962, V5C present in my name, MoT April 2018, your chance to own a classic vintage German scooter, £3500 Tel. 07964 035966. LAMBRETTA Standard TS1, 58x107 crank, BGM stator, lightend, welded Indian f/wheel Mikuni 35mm, Indian GP200 g/box, £4000 Tel. 07920 026260. LAMBRETTA GP 1970, turquoise, all original, excellent runner, £3600 Tel. 07957 600669. LAMBRETTA GP200 Stage Four, upgraded new parts-Italian race crank etc, Sterling exhaust system, optional seat choice, £3400 ovno Tel. 07949 013752. LAMBRETTA LD150 running condition, few things need…

Sarge With over four decades of riding, rally-going and competing on both Lambretta and Vespa scooters under his belt, he’s still going strong. A key player in the Scootering editorial team since the 80s. Top DJ to boot. Nik Skeat Vespa P-range obsessive, well-travelled rally rider since the 80s, and founder of the once notorious Scooterboy World online forum. He’s also a brilliant beer-brewing bearded Scootering feature writer. Big Stan 80s scooterboy turned long distance rider. Be it local, national or international, he’ll ride anywhere in his quest to bring you the tastiest scooters, best roads, trade interviews and hidden gems. Stuart Owen Life member of the LCGB, 100mph LambrettaClub owner and scooter restoration expert to boot. Scooter rider, rally-goer, racer, restorer and author. Reaches the parts other scooter journalists…

With the likes of Falc, Parmakit and Polini setting the smallie world on fire, things have changed drastically since the 80s. Although the price of the rarities has become crazy, the average smallie still offers a cost-effective avenue for 16-year-olds to get on the road. This has really aided their appeal over the years, right through to the current era. I imagine many readers will have dabbled in the small frame world at some point and will have no doubt developed a soft spot in their hearts for these little machines. Let’s see how ownership of such models has impacted Young Guns SC members Evan, Lois and Leah… Evan Dower Age: 17 Location: Dalkeith Another of our ever-growing contingent beyond the wall, Evan Dower shares his own small frame tale:…

Ihad previously read, rather eagerly, the month-by-month Scootering guide to painting your scooter which ran last year, and was delighted to see it all combined into a single booklet in last month’s Scootering. The guide prompted a little reminiscing… I have always painted my own scooters over the past 35 years, with just one exception. It can be one of the most satisfying things you can do as a scooter owner, or… it can be the most frustrating when it goes wrong! I found, over the years, that painting your own scooter gives you that really strong connection with the machine, in the same way that building your own scooter does. There is something uniquely pleasing about carefully selecting the colour(s) and if you are feeling brave, designing the paint…

Getting started We left Aberdeen early, heading for Newcastle and the ferry which would take us to Holland. We were not long into the journey, just outside Dundee, when Kenny had a rear wheel puncture. That fixed, we made our way down the east coast, over the border into England and were just outside Newcastle when Jamie said he was struggling to both breathe and see out his new Arai helmet. We had a look to check the problem, and he had forgotten to remove the screen protector! This was the first of many laughs we were to have along the way. Reaching Newcastle and the ferry port with a couple of hours to spare, we met more Scottish scooterists and as usual had a few beers; we were all…

Type: 1974 – Vespa Rally 200 Owner: John Kerrison Club: 2TW – ‘An amalgamation of riders’ Spec: 210cc Malossi kit, SIP exhaust, standard up-jetted carb. Paint: Candy apple green with gold base and heavy fine metal flake. There was just something about John Kerrison’s Vespa Rally that I couldn’t quite take my eyes off. John explained that at heart he is a Lambretta man but the Vespa Rally 200 is his favourite model of scooter. Bought two years ago as a restoration project, John stripped the machine down and made upgrades where necessary. John said: “The rebuild included new bearings and engine mounts, the lights were in a bit of a mess and the bush on the rear suspension had gone. The wiring also caused some aggravation because I couldn’t…

Spanish Dream I love things Italian – food, wine, cities, people. A trip to the Amalfi coast was the catalyst for my return to scootering – a small frame Vespa smuggled into my shed while I came up with a way of telling my wife I was again a scooter owner after 25 years. In the 80s I owned both Vespa and Lambretta; like many they were replaced with a car as I sought more girlfriend-friendly transport. Fast forward to now, and in a way this magazine shoulders responsibility for my latest addition. We had a kitchen extension and the Mrs decided quartz worktops were needed. When my ‘future scooterist son’ pointed to one of your centre spread custom scoots and said, “Cost? Less than the wife spent on the…

Andy Francis saw the development of the RB first hand having spent a lot of time at AF Rayspeed during the testing period. Having seen various stages of the kit’s progress he didn’t think the finished product would be that special. Once he saw Ray Kemp testing on the A64 outside the shop he knew in an instant that he had guessed this one wrong. Watching its performance Andy knew this was about to take Lambretta tuning as we know it to the next level. He was convinced that this would push other manufacturers of kits to produce more power as they attempted to step up to the new benchmark set by AF Rayspeed. Both Ray and Ben Kemp were worried that they would not be able to keep up…

If your scooter club is holding a do or event just drop us a line for some FREE advertising. Unfortunately we can ONLY accept details by post or via the website due to workloads. Please keep wording to a minimum and be warned that listings may be edited due to space restrictions. JULY 21-23 Llandudno National, BSRA#6 21-23 Solent Cougars SC, annual do. BTC Sports & Social Club, Southampton. SO16 2PA 21-23 Driffield Midnight Runners SC, Summer Scrum 7.Driffield RFC YO25 9DW. Fri, 01482Tones, Sat Eddie Soul Finger and The Strikes. £10. Tel. 07868 050620 21-23 Sleaford All-Knighters SC, rally. Sleaford RFC. £15 adv or £20 otg www.allknighterssc.webs.com/therally- 2017 22 One Night with the Templars, Southern Templars SC do. Lux Park, Liskeard RFC, Cornwall PL14 3HZ. From 3pm 22 Harlow…

Front brake To get the most tension and pressure on the cam or calliper it’s best to try and get the curve on the cable as smooth as possible. This is not an easy job because to do so it will need to cross from the left to the right and then back again to attain the best possible route. Start with the outer cable only from the inner recess in the light switch housing and loop over to the left hand side guide in the headset where it will follow down the fork stem. This will give the smoothest curve possible. As it goes down the left hand side of the stem it then crosses back over to the right underneath the horn and on the fork tube. Make…

It was October 1972 and the final round of EMSA British Scooter Sprint Championship at Fulbeck; 91 entrants across seven classes. Fred Willingham was the fastest standing quarter mile at 13.95 seconds but my best time was only 16.3 seconds and I was 10th. So 45 years on, could I do better? Technology has moved on and I already owned an RB22 Lambretta running a Mikuni carb and NK race pipe, but what else might I need? Here are the options I diced with… Tuning: I still want to use it on the road after, but top sprint engines are around 45bhp. Costs could run into thousands, so instead I just fitted an LTH seven-plate clutch and called it a day. I did put it on a dyno and it…

Even though my bones will be about the first to disagree with me on this, there’s no denying that the atmosphere on a rally campsite more than compensates for the leaky tents, the crappy dog burgers and the hated 6am race pipe alarm call. There’s something very laid back about a field full of tents, scooters and people having a quiet drink. I’d go as far as to say that the communal atmosphere is unique among rally types. Not following what I mean? Try this… firstly there is the B&B rally, much beloved of the older generation and those for whom home comforts are a priority. Yes, you get a nice warm bed, and a breakfast which is by and large mostly edible, but after that it just becomes a…

Many people have travelled significant distances on a Vespa, but probably the toughest trip on a Vespa ever made was the ‘Vesparicana’ by Alexander Eischeid. On an old Vespa PX125 Alexander travelled from the Arctic Ocean to Alaska through Canada, the USA and Central America all the way down South America to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. In 22 months he travelled 71,000km, visited 19 countries, broke eight pistons, two cylinders and three brake drums, and used fififive sets of tyres. Nuff said. Before ‘Vesparicana’, Alexander already had some experience in travelling. In 1998 he bought his first Vespa and since then he has travelled through 15 countries in Europe on a Vespa. In the past, he already travelled with a backpack around Central America and South America, from Mexico to…

Eric Cope along with tuner Darrell Taylor has spent the last eight years developing the potential of the RB kit. They currently use a 250cc version that is producing a staggering 45bhp albeit heavily modified. This culminated in Eric being the first person to achieve a sub 13 second ¼ mile on a full bodied Lambretta, a feat only equalled by a few full blown sprinters. Eric’s best ever time has been 12.81 seconds at a terminal speed of 102mph. Eric is quoted as saying: “Not only is it the most powerful kit to tune but by far the easiest in terms of the work required to the cylinder, definitely the best on the market.”…

Allied with the newly devised and financially liberating hire purchase schemes, a prospective owner could in theory specify any level of accessories or embellishment to be grouped together in a number of easy instalments spreading the cost of purchase of the base machine and any additions over a number of years rather than in one lump sum. Foremost in those early years was Andre Baldet with his two-toned Monas and Arc en Ciel Vespas. With distinctive sweeping accents of contrasting colour he set the tone for those who were to follow. Supreme Scooters in south London offered as enticement easily removed body parts in chromium plate rather than the standard body colour as part of the purchase price (presumably the base price was slightly loaded to offset the costs of…

Major Lance Ain’t No Soul (InThese Old Shoes) –The Complete OKeh Recordings 1963-67 (RPM) One of the great names of the Northern Soul scene, Major Lance’s records have long been a fixed item on many a scooterist DJ’s playlist. Although recording for many labels across his career, his best work was recorded at Chicago’s famed OKeh label. Um Um Um Um Um, Um, Ain’t No Soul (In These Old Shoes), Monkey Time, It’s The Beat and Investigate will be familiar to most readers, along with others, and are included in this two CD set. Although not blessed with the greatest of voices, his phrasing and timing were impeccable, to the extent that they masked the weakness in his range and tone, giving us a selection of songs that are still…

THE EXHAUST Last month we did a simple ‘bolt on’ job, moving from a completely standard P2 lump and fitting a Polini 210 kit. This resulted in a 37% power increase, which is not to be sniffed at! This gain in power is even more surprising, given that it was achieved using the standard exhaust. So it seemed an obvious ‘next move’ to have a look at upgrading the exhaust system. Wanting to retain standard looks, and curious as to what Polini’s very own matching pipe would bring to the party, we opted for that particular unit. These pipes are readily available on the marketplace, have good build quality, and are reasonably priced at around £120. FITTING It’s a simple process; in fact it couldn’t be any simpler, which I…

APOTTED HISTORYWITH APERSONAL PREJUDICE. The old chestnut So… before launching full throttle into it, allow me to set my personal credentials out. I began my apprenticeship in the scooter/Mod world back in the dim and distant early 80s. I must also add a caveat, that I’d already been brainwashed and steeped in it subliminally from a very tender age. My much elder brother had been one of the original 60s mob, going to places like the legendary Twisted Wheel and Disco Takis soul clubs in mid-60s Manchester. So much so that he had me reciting Otis Redding lyrics and stuff like ‘Ain’t nothing but a house party’ at the age of four. When he flew the coop, I inherited a stack of very credible vinyl, thank you very much. Couple…